TidBITS#652/21-Oct-02
=====================
Macworld Expo is returning to Boston - but is Apple? We look at
the brouhaha so far to see what all the keyboard rattling could
mean for future Mac trade shows. Also in this issue, Mark Anbinder
examines Palm's new Zire handheld, Adam analyzes the steps
required to solve any troubleshooting problem, and we note the
release of important Microsoft Office updates, Apple's X for
Teachers deal to get Jaguar for free, and Apple's fourth quarter
$45 million loss.
Topics:
MailBITS/21-Oct-02
Apple, IDG Play Hardball Over Macworld Expo
Palm Offers Low-price, No-frills Zire Handheld
TidBITS Troubleshooting Primer, Part 1
Copyright 2002 TidBITS Electronic Publishing. All rights reserved.
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MailBITS/21-Oct-02
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**Security Patches for Office 98, Office 2001, and Office X** --
Microsoft has issued security updates for Macintosh versions of
Office 98 (1.5 MB), Office 2001 (2 MB), and Office X (2.8 MB). The
updates correct two security issues, one where a holder of a valid
security certificate could generate bogus subordinate certificates
which Office would believe to be valid (Microsoft security
bulletin MS02-050), and another where field codes in Microsoft
Word could be used to gather information surreptitiously from
users' documents in some circumstances (Microsoft security
bulletin MS02-059). The security certificate problem is the same
one for which Microsoft released new versions of Internet Explorer
last month.
Significantly, the security update for Office X also includes
unspecified improvements which may improve application stability
under Jaguar, welcome news for frustrated users of Word X who have
experienced inordinate program crashes since upgrading to Jaguar.
[GD]
**Apple Posts $45 Million Q4 Loss** -- Apple Computer last week
announced a net loss of $45 million for its fourth fiscal quarter
of 2002, although Apple's net numbers for the entire fiscal year
were positive, with $65 million in earnings on $5.74 billion in
revenue. The fourth quarter results included several non-recurring
items (including write-downs of investments); without these items,
Apple would have had a net profit of $7 million for the quarter.
Revenues for the quarter were $1.44 billion, and gross margins
were down to 26.4 percent from 30.1 percent in the same fiscal
quarter of 2001. Curiously, international sales accounted for
only 35 percent of Apple's revenue: usually, international
sales contribute just under half of Apple's revenue.
Apple said it does not expect the computer industry as a whole to
improve soon, so the company does not anticipate a dramatic uptick
in profits. However, Apple hopes to do well during the holiday
season with consumer-oriented items like iPods, iMacs, and iBooks,
and the company claims Mac OS X 10.2 is on track to have 5 million
users by the end of the calendar year. Apple retail stores had
2.25 million visitors during the last quarter, and Apple as a
whole remains in good financial shape with more than $4.3 billion
in cash on hand, no revenue slippage, and normal levels of channel
inventory. [GD]
**Jaguar Free to Qualified U.S. Teachers** -- Apple has unveiled
"X for Teachers," a new program offering _free_ not-for-resale
copies of Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar for eligible K-12 teachers in
the U.S. (and, after 24-Oct-02, in Canada) for their personal,
educational, and/or research use. The package will feature a
"Getting Started with Mac OS X" self-paced training CD-ROM that
presumably introduces Mac OS X's key features; also included are
Apple's digital hub applications iMovie, iTunes, and iPhoto.
To qualify, teachers must be currently employed as a K-12 teacher
in a public, private, or charter school. Non-teacher school
employees, student teachers, higher education faculty, home
schools, resellers, and others are not eligible, and there's a
limit of one copy of Jaguar per qualifying teacher. Orders must
be placed via the X for Teachers Web pages, and orders will be
shipped to the teachers' school addresses. The X for Teachers
program runs through 31-Dec-02. [GD]
Apple, IDG World Expo Play Hardball Over Macworld Expo
------------------------------------------------------
by Jeff Carlson
Would Macworld Expo be the same without Apple? That's the
question Mac users and vendors are asking themselves as Apple
and conference organizer IDG World Expo publicly trade barbs
about Apple's participation in upcoming trade shows.
The brouhaha erupted late last week, when IDG World Expo announced
that the 2004 East Coast expo would move from New York City, where
the event has been held since 1998, to the show's original East
Coast venue, Boston. The announcement was the culmination of weeks
of negotiations between IDG World Expo and representatives of both
cities to see which could provide the best deal for one of the
largest high-tech conferences in the country. (According to
comments by IDG World Expo CEO Charlie Greco, the last Boston
show in 1997 brought in $42 million for the city.)
However, later that same day Apple released the following
statement: "Today IDG World Expo announced plans to move Macworld
from New York to Boston in July of 2004. Apple disagrees with this
decision, and will not be participating in Macworld Boston. Since
IDG World Expo is no longer investing in New York, we now need to
re-evaluate our participation in Macworld New York 2003. Apple
will continue to participate in Macworld San Francisco in
January."
The following day, IDG World Expo reiterated its plans to put on
both shows, with or without Apple. Then, in a public salvo
delivered over the weekend, Greco suggested in a Boston Globe
interview that IDG World Expo might consider banning Apple from
this January's San Francisco show, as well as from its events held
in Tokyo and Paris.
Apple hasn't responded publicly to Greco's threat, though it now
appears that private discussions may be making progress. IDG World
Expo told MacCentral (both companies are owned by IDG) today that
Apple would be participating in the upcoming Macworld Expo in San
Francisco in January. But there's still no word about what will
happen with the East Coast events, and it's clear that both sides
are putting on a show of force to see who will back down. Why all
the fuss? Although money is definitely a major factor, there are
other possible explanations.
**East Expo Expense** -- Moving Macworld to Boston will be a great
financial boon to IDG World Expo. Boston beat out New York by
offering incentives such as reduced hotel rates, use of some city
buildings for Macworld functions, steep discounts for exhibitor
services, and a great rate for Boston's new convention center,
which is scheduled to be completed by 2004 and will be large
enough to house the expo (previous Boston expos required splitting
the show between two venues, forcing awkward bus trips between
the two).
However, as an exhibitor, Apple doesn't share in all the financial
savings. According to Greco, Apple typically spends $4 million
to $5 million at an expo for equipment and supplies, plus travel
and lodging for hundreds of employees, along with the not
insignificant costs of Steve Jobs's dramatic keynote addresses.
Apple may have more than $4 billion in the bank, but as the
overall technology market continues to falter, the company no
doubt wants to put its money where it will have the most impact.
**An Expo in Every Mall** -- That impact is increasingly being met
by Apple's retail stores (currently 53 locations either open or
announced). Unlike Macworld Expo, where people can order products
only from Apple's online store, Apple Stores are designed to make
the purchasing process easy. Plus, although Macworld Expo may draw
50,000 or more people, Apple announced that 2.25 million people
visited an Apple Store in the last three months.
Also worth considering is the fact that Macworld Expo attendees
are for the most part already Apple customers, whereas people
who wander into an Apple Store are more likely to be new to the
platform. Call us cynical, but Apple may believe that marketing
to existing customers simply isn't all that necessary; that could
also account for why Apple advertises little in Macintosh
publications.
Equally important is the fact that Apple Stores control the
customer experience on an almost one-to-one basis. Rather than
watch thousands of gawkers stream through the expo booth and fight
to be heard among the loudspeakers and crowd noise, Apple can
dictate how a customer's visit occurs from the moment he or she
walks through the door. Since Steve Jobs's return to the company,
Apple has been obsessed with controlling the Macintosh experience,
whether by engineering Mac OS X so that developers have less
leeway to adjust the operating system's look and feel, or by
maintaining a tight lid on new products until Apple is ready
to unveil them at a time and place of Apple's choosing.
In fact, you could argue that having a booth and hardware to
display has become something of a formality for Apple. In the
company's eyes, Macworld Expo is less about connecting with users
or vendors, and more about generating the massive amount of press
coverage that the show, and especially the keynote, can draw.
Macworld Expo isn't a trade show for a niche computer
manufacturer, it's an Event that receives worldwide media
attention. If you're skeptical, consider the way the recent iMac
redesign became a Time cover story (timed to coincide with the
keynote so that attendees received a free copy, purchased by
Apple, on their way out).
But Apple can't keep up the pace. After years of releasing new
machines and software in January and July, it's become more
difficult for Apple to live up to expectations by having "just
one more thing" ready in the wings. At the last New York show,
Jobs was rumored to be furious because delays in finishing Jaguar
meant that the new line of Power Mac G4s weren't ready to be
announced. The result was a greater emphasis on software that
was on the verge of shipping (Jaguar), or not ready (iCal and
the still-beta iSync).
The big announcement pattern has its destructive aspect too, as
sales of existing products tend to drop off in the weeks leading
up to the show; the current wisdom being that it's foolish to buy
new hardware late in the year (during the important holiday retail
season), because there's likely to be a computer processor speed
bump or some completely different product at the show in January.
To buck the trend, Apple has made several significant
announcements, such as the release of the iPod and the newly
redesigned iBook, during invitation-only press conferences
at Apple's corporate campus throughout the year.
Apple's statement following the Boston announcement suggests that
the company may be looking to concentrate on the January expo in
San Francisco, which doesn't require nearly as much in the way of
travel expenses but still results in huge media coverage. By
dropping out of an East Coast show in July or August, Apple could
more easily release products on a less predictable schedule and
save millions of dollars.
**Timing Is Everything** -- According to reports, Apple's
statement was a surprise to IDG World Expo, despite frequent
contact between the two companies during the time IDG World Expo
was talking to New York and Boston about the change of venue.
It's hard to believe that the announcement was a complete
surprise, though, especially considering Greco's comments to
the Boston Globe indicating that he suspected months ago that
Jobs was looking to reduce Apple's slate of shows. Instead,
it sounds as if IDG World Expo assumed Apple would follow the
expo wherever it ended up, so IDG World Expo forged ahead anyway.
Apple - or more realistically, Jobs - took advantage of IDG's
gaffe and dropped the bomb of pulling out of Boston and possibly
New York at the point when IDG World Expo would be most
vulnerable - and therefore most willing to negotiate in
Apple's favor.
As a result, IDG World Expo finds itself fighting the perception
that it didn't adequately communicate with its star attraction,
while also needing to placate the cities of Boston and New York,
with whom it no doubt has contractual obligations. And in an ugly
step, Greco has taken the power struggle public, vowing to keep
the other shows alive no matter what the cost.
Greco may have taken the debate to the press to force Apple's
hand, but angering Steve Jobs by making Apple look bad doesn't
seem like a recipe for success. It's equally disappointing to see
Apple stick to the our-way-or-the-highway approach, but the fact
is that a Macworld Expo without Apple would be a very different
kettle of fish. Without Apple, attendance would undoubtedly slump
and much of the press would skip the show entirely, both of which
would reduce the visibility vendors receive for the significant
expense of exhibiting. A domino effect could result, with Apple's
exit causing the larger vendors to bow out, and making it even
harder for smaller developers to justify spending marketing
dollars to attend.
In such a situation, IDG World Expo could change the show to
compensate, charging less for vendors to exhibit, concentrating
more on the conference sessions, or giving away exhibit floor
passes. But would such changes result in the kind of Macworld Expo
users and vendors alike would want to attend? We hope Apple and
IDG World Expo can stop their posturing and work out a compromise
that keeps Apple involved in the Macworld Expos under terms
acceptable to both companies and the rest of the Macintosh
industry.
Palm Offers Low-price, No-frills Zire Handheld
----------------------------------------------
by Mark H. Anbinder
These days, personal digital assistants (PDAs) do just about
everything. Recent handhelds from Palm, Compaq, Sony, Handspring,
and others can not only organize users' lives, but also take
pictures, check and send email, surf the Web, show off color
photo albums, play music, or serve as a cell phone. And yet,
for many handheld users use just the basics: calendar and contacts
are still the primary uses for PDAs. For those users, Palm, Inc.
this month introduced the no-nonsense $100 Zire handheld.
**Zire Specs** -- The Zire (pronounced like the second syllable of
"desire") is truly a no-frills handheld. Like the original Pilot,
it includes 2 MB of memory and a monochrome display (with no
backlight, so forget about using it in the dark). More modern
accoutrements include a built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery,
infrared port, and Palm OS 4.1.
To keep things simple, Palm has included front-panel buttons only
for the most commonly used applications, Date Book and Address
Book. The To Do List, Memo Pad, and other standard applications
are still provided in memory, but they don't clutter the Zire's
pleasingly trim appearance. At 4.4 inches (11.2 cm) tall by 2.9
inch (7.4 cm) wide, the Zire is Palm's smallest handheld, though
its 0.6 inch (1.5 cm) thickness isn't quite as slim as the svelte
Palm m500 series or Palm Vx, or Handspring's Visor Edge, which
all measure about 0.4 inches (1.0 cm) deep.
Abandoning the "Universal Connector" introduced with the m500
series, the Zire includes a mini USB cable for synchronizing to
any USB-capable Mac or Windows computer. As such, there's no
serial port support for synching or adding peripherals, and it
has no expansion card slot. This means power users or feature
freaks should look at other models. A simple charging cable has
replaced the cradles of other models; frequent travelers might
want to leave it at home, though, in favor of the capability to
charge the battery (albeit more slowly) through the USB cable
attached to your Mac.
Will the Zire's cost-saving monochrome screen (we're talking black
and white here, not even grayscale) be too limiting? I doubt it,
since the target audience that needs to keep track of names,
numbers, and appointments will likely use the handheld for little
else. The grayscale and color screens on the more expensive Palm
models mostly come in handy for Web graphics and games, and the
color screens also dramatically decrease battery life. Although
Palm's customer research revealed that users rarely made use of
the backlight on their handhelds, I'd still prefer to see one
on the Zire for occasional nocturnal use.
**Zire versus m105** -- The big question now is whether you should
purchase the Zire for $100, or spend the same money on Palm's
previous entry-level handheld, the Palm m105. In terms of cold
specs, the m105 is a clear winner: it comes with 8 MB of memory
and a backlit grayscale screen. On the other hand, the m105 also
requires AAA batteries for power, runs Palm OS 3.5 (though for
most users this isn't a noticeable difference), and isn't as
small, light, or sleek looking as the Zire. (The Web page below
offers a comparison chart among Palm's currently shipping models.)
What's nice about the Zire is Palm's approach: not everyone is
looking for a full-fledged computer to put in their pocket, and
the people who want some sort of electronic organizer are smart
enough to steer clear of cheap Palm knock-offs. The Zire embodies
many of the same attributes as an older device that promised to
be the one for "the rest of us."
TidBITS Troubleshooting Primer, Part 1
--------------------------------------
by Adam C. Engst
There's no point in pretending that problems never happen.
Although this may be a typically male viewpoint, life - computer
life and life in general - can be seen as nothing but problems
("challenges," "opportunities") and solutions. What has always
amazed us is the level to which people without much technical
experience assume that they can't possibly solve computer
problems. Although specialized knowledge certainly helps,
troubleshooting is a universal skill. If you can figure out why
your brakes are squeaking or why the sewing machine is jamming,
you can figure out computer-related problems. Despite what many
non-computer people think, there's no real difference.
For those of you who find tracking down and eliminating a problem
intimidating, here's a guide that walks you through how I
troubleshoot problems of all types. (This article is adapted from
the troubleshooting chapter I wrote for the book my friend Glenn
Fleishman and I are co-authoring right now, tentatively titled
The Wireless Networking Starter Kit.)
The most important piece of advice I can give up front is: Be
methodical. If you start trying solutions without thinking about
what caused the problem and what the effect of any given solution
may be, you just end up complicating the entire situation. The
best way to encourage a methodical approach is to take notes about
what you see (especially any error messages), what you do, and the
effects of what you do.
**Describe the Problem** -- The first step in troubleshooting is
to identify the problem and gather information about it. That
sounds simple, and it usually is, because most problems aren't
particularly subtle. Perhaps you can't send email, or your one
wired computer isn't visible to the computers on your wireless
network.
It's important to determine if the problem is reproducible or
intermittent. Although an intermittent problem may be less irksome
than a reproducible problem if you can keep working through it,
intermittent problems are much harder to track down, because one
of the variables involved is related to a time- or state-related
fact. Reproducible problems almost beg to be solved, because you
can't keep working until you've solved the problem.
Pay attention to any visible indicators that might give more
information about the problem. For instance, many devices have
status LEDs that indicate whether a device is turned on and if
it's performing some sort of activity. If those LEDs aren't
working the way you expect, record that information.
**Break the System Apart** -- Once you have a firm grasp on the
problem, you need to start breaking the system related to the
problem into discrete steps or pieces. Then you can start
analyzing different parts of the whole. The hard part here is
that you may not realize what the different parts of the system
are, making it difficult to understand how one could fail. But
if you think about what's involved in using the system, you
should be able to determine most of the parts.
For instance, take the example of a wireless network that also
has one computer connected via an Ethernet cable. In this sample
network, the one wired computer is used as an informal file
server. You're using one of the wireless computers, and you
suddenly can't connect to a shared folder that's worked fine
before. What are the pieces of this system? Let's determine what
must be true for the situation to work properly, after which we
can analyze each of the components.
* On your computer, you need properly installed file sharing
client software.
* Your computer must have a working connection to the wireless
access point.
* The access point must allow you to see a computer connected via
wired Ethernet.
* The wired Ethernet computer must have a working connection to
the access point.
* File sharing server software must be running on the wired
Ethernet computer.
* A folder must explicitly be shared on the wired Ethernet
computer.
You could certainly break these pieces into even smaller pieces,
but this should be sufficient to get started.
Keep in mind that what I've just described is only one working
system, which is important, because if there are other working
systems - other wireless computers that can see the file server -
that can help you zoom in on the problem quickly.
Note all of the pieces of the system briefly in your notebook, and
if you're a picture person, consider drawing yourself a diagram of
how it all fits together; this can come in especially handy if you
actually need to break the system apart by disconnecting cables or
rearranging equipment.
**Ask Yourself Questions** -- Now that you've identified all the
parts of the system, it's time to look carefully at each part,
making up a possible reason why a failure at that point could be
responsible for the whole problem. In our example, let's take each
part and analyze it, asking questions that lead to tests.
* File sharing client software is of course necessary, but since
you were able to connect previously, it's a good assumption that
it's installed. Is it turned on? Has anything changed since you
last connected successfully that might provide a clue? Have you
restarted (it's always worth trying)? What about other computers,
both wired and wireless? Can their file sharing client software
see the wired computer?
* Is the wireless connection to the access point working from your
computer? Is it working for other network-related tasks at the
same time you can't connect to the wired computer? Can other
wireless computers connect to the access point?
* Is the access point configured correctly so wireless computers
can see the wired computer? Since it worked properly before, this
likely isn't the source of the problem. Has anything changed on
the access point since you last connected that could be related?
* Can the wired computer connect to the access point via its
Ethernet cable? (Never underestimate the trouble a broken or
flaky cable can cause.)
* Is file sharing turned on and configured properly? Has anything
changed on that computer that might have resulted in it being
turned off or reconfigured? Have you restarted the wired computer
recently?
* Is the shared folder still shared? Could someone have changed
which folders were shared? Has the folder been moved or renamed
or otherwise modified in some way that might have changed its
state?
I mentioned the difference between reproducible and intermittent
problems above; if you have an intermittent problem connecting to
the wired Ethernet computer, that generates additional questions.
* Does the problem happen at all times of day? Does it happen
right after you've done something else? Is it related to the
presence or absence of any other machines?
Jot these questions down in your notebook, numbering them so you
can easily refer back to them when your tests start providing
answers.
**Answer Questions** -- Once you have your list of questions,
revisit it and think about which test you must perform to come up
with an answer to each question. Separate your questions roughly
into easy, moderate, and hard categories (you might write an E, M,
or H next to each question's number in the margin).
Also give your intuition a chance to work. If you have a nagging
feeling that your spouse might have let your 4-year-old nephew
play a game on the wired Ethernet computer, start with that
machine. Or, if you just had to reset the access point to factory
default settings for another reason, start there.
Wherever you choose to start, begin with tests that eliminate the
easiest questions first. For instance, it's trivial to check if
your nephew kicked the Ethernet cable out of the jack; there's no
reason to consider reinstalling the entire operating system on
that machine until you've exhausted every easier option.
Working methodically is essential at this point, and if you change
something in a way that significantly changes the overall system,
it's best (if possible) to put it back so the situation stays the
same as when you analyzed the problem. For instance, if you had
been thinking about installing a new access point that you'd just
bought, don't do it in the middle of the troubleshooting process
or you risk confusing everything.
Make sure to check off each question you answer in your notebook,
and note any interesting things that happen when you perform the
test. I don't suggest you do this because you're going to forget
what you've done while you're troubleshooting, but because you
may have forgotten by the next time the problem happens. Plus,
if you end up wanting to ask someone else for help, you can say
authoritatively that you had indeed tried some test with negative
results.
In most situations, the solution to your problem will make itself
clear during this process of answering questions. Perhaps it's
summer, and the reinstallation of your screen door is blocking the
Wi-Fi signal, or perhaps your spouse configured the computer in an
unusual way for your nephew's game. Maybe your access point lost
track of the wireless-to-wired Ethernet bridge settings, or maybe
your computer or the access point just needed to be restarted.
**Get Expert Help** -- With truly tricky problems, your tests
won't reveal any conclusive answers. Don't feel too bad, because
if you've followed the procedure so far carefully, your failing is
most likely that you don't understand all the parts of the system
well enough. What to do next? Ask for help, of course, and that's
where I'll look in the next part of this article.
$$
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